Does Travel Insurance Cover Medical Expenses?

Does Travel Insurance Cover Medical Expenses?

When travelling overseas, nothing dampens your vacation plans more than sickness or an injury. More often than not, a sniffly nose, headache or a few bumps and bruises will probably only lead to some minor setbacks and a bad mood while going on with your usual vacation plans. However, if you were to contract a more serious illness or get badly injured, your travel plans will likely be turned upside down.

The risk and impact of serious illness or injury while overseas lead many people to ask if travel insurance covers medical expenses. Thankfully, we have good news for you. Medical expenses are covered in most standard travel insurance policies!

But before you race off and buy a policy, there are a few things you absolutely should know to fully answer the question, ‘Does travel insurance cover medical expenses?’.

Are Medical Expenses Included in All insure4less Travel Insurance Policies?

Yes! At insure4less, all travel insurance policies come with unlimited medical expenses cover. This gives you peace of mind knowing there’s more than enough cover in place if a medical emergency were to occur.

What Medical Expenses are Covered?

Overseas Medical Treatment

When you fall ill or get hurt overseas, our travel insurance will cover you for the cost of medication and doctors’ appointments required to get you the treatment you need.

Hospitalisation

If your illness or injury is severe enough to land you in hospital, all reasonable hospital expenses will be covered. This includes any emergency medical, surgical and ambulance transportation costs associated with your hospital care.

Emergency Evacuation

The cost of repatriation back home to Australia including air ambulance is included if it is deemed medically necessary.

Travel & Accommodation

Travel insurance covers you for additional travel and accommodation costs required to help you return home when sick or injured overseas. This also covers travel and accommodation costs for a travel companion or a loved one travelling from their home country to be with you and accompany you on your journey home.

What’s Not Included in Medical Expenses Cover?

As with any insurance policy, there are some exclusions for medical expenses cover. Please note that any treatment or surgery deemed non-essential by the insurer or if the treatment can be delayed, it will not be covered.

Some other medical expenses not covered by travel insurance policies include:

Will I be Covered for Medical Expenses While Travelling in Australia?

Australian travel insurers are not permitted by law to pay medical expenses to Australians who are travelling within Australia. Therefore, medical expenses within a travel insurance policy will only be covered if they have been incurred overseas.

What are the Most Common Medical Expenses I may Encounter While Travelling?

Want to know what to look out for and be careful of when travelling overseas to ensure a safe and illness-free trip? The three most common medical expenses claims made by Australia travellers are due to:

Gastroenteritis

Food poisoning

Physical injuries from a slip and fall

That said, there are many other illnesses that can result in enormous medical bills – appendicitis is a regular, and costs often exceed $50,000.

What Do I Do If I Get Sick or Hurt Overseas?

When you have an insure4less travel insurance policy, as soon as you become severely injured or extremely unwell overseas, let us know. We have a 24/7 emergency service available to provide you with assistance on any day and at any time.

If you end up in hospital and are unable to call us, most medical facilities will have a set procedure in place to notify us directly about your medical emergency.

Here are a few ways our medical emergency assistance service can help you:

Provide overall guidance and help

Pay hospital and medical bills

Arrange for repatriation to your home country if medically necessary

Pass on urgent messages to your family

Act as interpreters if you’re based in a non-English speaking hospital overseas

Our 24/7 medical emergency service phone number is shown on our website and in your policy document. Please note that this phone number should only be used for medical emergencies.

How Do I Make a Claim for Medical Expenses?

To make a claim, you will need to obtain a claim form from our appointed claims adjusters after calling our 24/7 medical emergency service number. You can also download a copy of our claim form from our website.

To begin the claim process, you will need to provide the following details:

Name

Address

Telephone number

Travel insurance policy certificate number

A brief description stating the nature of your claim

Name and phone number for the hospital and attending doctor

Details of your usual doctor or GP

If you have received medical attention and already paid for it before contacting us, keep the receipts along with a certificate that outlines the injury or illness you’re inflicted with. These documents are required to help support your claim. Once the receipts and certificate are submitted along with your claim form, and the claim has been accepted, the process for reimbursement will be underway.

Will I Be Covered for Pre-Existing Medical Conditions?

In many cases, if there’s a medical condition you currently have or have had in the past few years, it will not be covered under a travel insurance policy. However, at insure4less, our travel insurance policies cover a range of pre-existing conditions.

Get Medical Expenses Cover While Overseas With insure4less

With all this information at your fingertips, you should now have all the answers you need when asking ‘Does travel insurance cover medical expenses?’. At insure4less, we think everyone should be able to access unlimited cover for medical expenses, which is why it’s included in every travel insurance policy we provide.

So, if you’re worried about how you’ll pay for medical expenses if you get sick or hurt overseas, take out travel insurance with insure4less. Get a quote now!

Quick Quote

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18/02/2019

18/11/2017

Destination & Type of Cover Complete!

What type of cover are you looking for?

Single trip: Covers trips of up to a total of 365 days in total inc one way travel. Cover for snow sports activities can be included.

Annual multi trip: Covers you for an unlimited number of trips over a 12 month period up to a maximum duration of 31, 45, 62 or 93 days per trip after which you must return to Australia before commencing a new trip. Trips wholly within Australia are insured if they include at least one overnight stay and a minimum distance of 250kms from your place of residence. Each policy includes up to 23 days snow sports cover (on piste). If you are travelling over 93 days, please select a standard, single trip travel insurance quote.

Policy Type

Where are you travelling to?

Please select the region where you are travelling to: The countries covered under each region will appear when you select the region.

Travelling To

How many people should be covered?

Please select whether you are travelling as an individual, with your partner / friend (couple) ; as a family group where one of the children is under 18 years; as a group.

Travellers

Maximum Trip Length

Travel Dates Complete!

I'd like my cover to start on

Please select the day that you commence your trip. You will be covered for claims that result in you having to cancel your trip before this date and therefore forfeit deposits paid - subject to the policy terms and conditions.

Cover Start Date

Cover Start Date

And it should end on

Please select the date that you plan to return back into Australia or if you are on a one way trip - the date that you will arrive in your final destination.

Cover End Date

Travellers planning to stay in the United States (not Canada) for 365 days or more: Following recent healthcare reforms in the United States we are unable to insure travellers who are planning to be in the United States (not Canada) for 365 days or more.

Cover End Date

Will you be travelling to countries outside of the USA &amp Canada?

Yes No

If you plan to visit the USA or Canada more than once during your trip, please calculate the total number of days you will be there. Then enter the date leaving USA or Canada as the total number of days from the date arriving.

For example: You will be in the US from 1st March to 31st March (31 days) and 10th October to 26th October (17 days) = 48 days in total. So you would have a start date of 1st March and an end date of 17th April. Ie 48 days. You will receive your certificate in an email, so simply reply to the email advising the correct dates of travel within USA or Canada and we will endorse the policy accordingly.

Date arriving in USA/Canada

Date leaving USA/Canada

Travellers Complete!

In order to obtain the best value, you should include a least one adult in each policy. The maximum number of travellers we can insure under one quote/policy is 50. If you have more than 50 then you should obtain more than one quote but ensuring that there is an adult in each subsequent quote.

Please note that ages are at the date of obtaining the quote, not the date of travel.

Traveller's Age

We can insure travellers up to and including 65 years at the date of purchase. Please note it is age at date of purchase rather than at date of travel.

Ages

We can insure travellers up to and including 65 years at the date of purchase. Please note it is age at date of purchase rather than at date of travel.

Traveller's Age

We can insure travellers up to and including 65 years at the date of purchase. Please note it is age at date of purchase rather than at date of travel.

How many people should be covered?

We can insure travellers up to and including 65 years at the date of purchase. Please note it is age at date of purchase rather than at date of travel.

Adults 18 to 55 years

How many people should be covered?

We can insure travellers up to and including 65 years at the date of purchase. Please note it is age at date of purchase rather than at date of travel.

Adults 56 to 60 years

How many people should be covered?

We can insure travellers up to and including 65 years at the date of purchase. Please note it is age at date of purchase rather than at date of travel.

General Advice Warning - The information contained in this website is correct at the time of publishing. The website and the advice provided by insure4less is of a general nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. If you are considering acquiring our travel insurance, you should obtain the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) relating to the product and consider this before making any decision.

insure4less is brought to you by Online Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, (Australian Financial Service License No. 241055) one of Australia's leading online insurance specialists. Online is authorised by ASIC to issue, deal in and provide general advice on general insurance products. Online is a Lloyd's Coverholder.